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Aug 24 2014

Categories: aldnoah zero, anime
Tagged: aldnoah zero, barakamon, captain earth

5 Comments »

This post is inspired by Red Lobster’s new lobster topped lobster. I’m not sure how you top lobster with lobster, but I imagine it would look like Captain Earth‘s Earth/Nebula/Flare Engines expansion sequence.

(My dad took me to an all-you-can-eat lobster buffet. For $24.99. Red Lobster, top that.)

(Don’t worry. This post isn’t all Captain Earth.)

Captain Earth

I cannot think of a bigger mess of a show than Captain Earth. I am also not sure why I am still watching it. I am hoping it pulls itself together, but, at this point, it is probably more of a “I’m already in for 19 episodes, might as well see the final few.” All the fun kissing through the glass, sexual Eyes Wide Shut imagery, and “Kiraboshi!” from Star Driver is not present. The Planetary Gears “Hey, let me show you the palm of my hand!” salute is a homeless man’s imitation. There was a lot of potential. Squandered.

1. Most of the first cours featured Team Rocket, Jessie and James, trying to catch Pikachu, if Pikachu where the Earth and Jessie and James were even more sexualized. Nothing made any sense. What the hell are Livlasters, Neotonys, Planetary Gears, Orgone, and Kill-T-Gang? It should not take almost ten episodes to explain these terms.

2. There are too many groups, and none of them are particularly interesting. Look, Game of Thrones can have many parties and groups involved because GRRM can juggle them (to a point, which is probably why Winds of Winter will arrive in 2022). Captain Earth, not so much. There’s Globe, which is trying to save the world with Impacters. There’s Salty Dog, which impedes Globe with red tape as much as they can, even though both are supposed to be on humanity’s side. They also have Impacters. There’s Kivotos Plan, which wants to destroy the world to remake it, and they control Salty Dog. There’s Macbeth, owned by Kube, who wants Kivotos to succeed so he can be the big boss of the new world (hint: I’ve played Fallout. Post-apocalypse social structure isn’t want you expect.). There’s Puck, who is owned and owns Kube. It’s a sentient AI that just wants to get laid. Then there’s Planetary Gears, who is really Team Rocket. It is a bit too much. They could have cut out Kube and Puck and given more time to flesh out Kivotos and Planetary Gears.

3. Most of the second cours thus far features Team Rocket trying to catch Hana. Every episode I can imagine them blasting off again. Of course, I totally expect them to catch her for the last arc. Her superpowerful mecha will then finally be pitted against Inaho’s orange kataphract.

4. The characters do not change clothes. Planetary Gears have one outfit. The Midsummer Knights have one casual outfit, one jumpsuit outfit, and one formal outfit. The girls have bathing suits. That’s it. You’d think that they would be more varied, or I am just spoiled from eight different Mikuru swimsuits in Endless Eight?

5. The worst place to be on Earth is always Tanegashima island. It’s the base of Globe for this show, it is totally destroyed (except for the secret base) in Aldnoah, it is the base in Robotics;Notes… basically, Tanegashima is a hot spot. I kind of want to visit it the next time I visit Japan.

Aldnoah Zero

It is not like Kiritsugu had a lot of personality, but Inaho’s wikipedia entry current reads: “Inaho also has a peculiar interest in various ways of preparing eggs.” That’s all?! Inaho feels like the high school version of Kiritsugu stripped to the core, and how he used and discarded Slaine is exactly a Kiritsugu move. There’s no Saber to banter with (Inaho’s sister is not in that class), and there’s no Irisveil. The show desperately needs at least a kindling of romance between Inaho and Inko. He needs something, and Asseylum is too obvious slash boring of a choice for love interest. Plus, I just like Inko, though I feel death flags circling her.

Don’t get me wrong: I am enjoying Aldnoah Zero. When I was at Japan Expo, I wanted to ask Gen Urobuchi why the hell was Slaine going as a character (since he vacillates between Orange-kun, Sunohara, and Reek), and also if Asseylum can get her grenade launcher back. But nope, there were two dozen people in line wanting to complain about Rebellion‘s ending. If it weren’t for his trademark sunglasses, I am positive Urobuchi rolls his eyes at these questions. I was very disappointed that no one asked about Kamen Rider Gaim or Aldnoah Zero. Every question was for either Madoka or Fate.

Japan Expo is an interesting convention. It is miniscule by Fanime or AX standards, yet manages to land some interesting guests, with World Traveler Urobuchi topping the list. Because it is smaller, you are more likely to be able to interact or get an autograph from a guest, which is a good thing. I liked the autograph lottery system as it makes it you don’t need to stand in line or wait for a raffle at the end of a panel. You just know and can move on with your day. The grounds… well… it’s at the San Mateo Fairgrounds. I last went there for the San Mateo Fair where I watched pigs being raced. Fashion Czar said that the con felt very California as so much of it was outside, which is a good thing as there is a lot of room to picnic and rest, which AX and Fanime lack.

Though the convention had one of the worst setups ever. They had two music stages, one for traditional Japanese stuff and another for Masquerade and jpop acts. Well, they were facing each other. While they were about a softball field apart, you could still hear one from another. I felt like they should have one stage at one end, and the other stage closer to the main building at a 90 degree angle, which is how the San Mateo Fair arranges it. Also, there were two huge indoor rooms wasted by video showings, since no one was there. These should have been the panel rooms. Instead, the main panel room was shared by the martial arts exhibition. Terrible idea. If you were not in the first five rows, you could not hear anything. The translators were also subpar as they were from France from the most part. They had two decent ones, but the rest could barely speak English. All in all, Japan Expo did not feel like a major anime con but rather an anime fair. I did like how there were virtually no lines, I liked the food, and I liked the free sake tasting. There are good and bad things about every con, but Japan Expo is cheap and easy enough to go to for at least a day. If they can fix the setup issue as well as bring in a few more guests and exhibitors, it would be a nice alternative to the clusterfuck Fanime is at times.

Barakamon

I can’t think of anything wrong with this show except, “Wait, it’s only twelve episodes?!” The animation from Kinema Citrus is quite good and light years ahead of Sailor Moon Crystal. Again, flogging a dead horse (because I can’t get enough of it from just The Knick), why does Sailor Moon Crystal need two weeks for shoddy animation? My current working theory is that the show is animated by an animation training studio, and that’s why it takes so long and the key frames do not even match. It’s like Toei took the ultimate cheap out method by hiring unpaid high school kids to animate the show. On the other hand of the spectrum, Kinema Citrus is involved (though not leading, CIA studio is doing that) the Kickstarter for Under the Dog. They want $580k for a 24 minute episode. Holy shit. Little Witch Academia 2 was $150k for 15 minutes, Kick Heart was $150k for 12 minutes, and Bee and Puppycat was $600k for 300 minutes. Does it seem reasonable that Under the Dog wants 3X the funding per minute as LWA2? Kinema Citrus is not a bad studio, but they are not 3X better than either Trigger or Science Saru.

When UtD started their KS, they asked for $100 for a BD with English language only. They changed it to $60 but only still one foreign language. LWA2 added 9 languages as part of their KS, and Time of Eve added over 20 for $10k. Seriously? They couldn’t toss in French or Chinese for $580k? CIA tries to justify their cost saying that they can get traditional funding for a two cours show if they want, but they don’t want to give up creative control hence KS. Well, if you are going to be on KS, you need to be a bit more transparent. What exactly did the studios want changed? The show is about sexy women with big guns fighting crime in futuristic Tokyo. It’s hard for me to believe that a production committee that let Barakamon through almost completely intact would want a lot of changes to sexy women with big guns fighting crime in futuristic Tokyo. I tried to e-mail them using an official blogsuki.com e-mail address (maybe so they would get a hint) asking similar questions, and I have yet to hear back. Maybe they already have a junk e-mail screen up for this domain. Oh well. Good luck guys.

(If UtD wants to use 100% Japanese animators and that is why it is so expensive, just fucking put that in your KS.)